Retro Friday: Sasharia En Garde!

Retro Friday is a meme hosted by Angie over at Angieville about books that are old favorites or books that bloggers think don’t get the attention they deserve. This is also a ploy to get Angie to read the books that I write about. 😛 I seem to be doing a lot of Retro Friday posts lately but I can’t help myself. I’m a huge Sherwood Smith fan and I feel like I don’t talk enough about her here in my blog. I was lucky enough to meet her when I went to States last year and I attended a Sounis/Athanarel joint meet-up. You can follow her blog posts in her LiveJournal, where she talks a lot about books and writing. Or you can join the LiveJournal community for Sherwood Smith fans: Athanarel, where you can post questions on any of her books or just write what you think about them. Anyway, today I’d like to talk about Sherwood’s Sasharia En Garde duology: Once a Princess and Twice a Prince.

Sasha’s mother, Sun, was once swept away from a Ren Faire to another world by a prince—literally—but there was no happy ending. Sun’s prince disappeared, and a wicked king took the Khanerenth throne. In the years since, Sasha and Sun have been back on Earth and on the run. Mom and daughter don’t quite see eye to eye on the situation—Sasha wants to stand and fight. Sun insists her prince will return for them one day; it’s safer to stay hidden.

Then Sasha is tricked into crossing the portal to Khanerenth. She’s more than ready to join the resistance, kick some bad-guy butt, and fix the broken kingdom. But… is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan?

Back on Earth, Sun is furious Sasha has been kidnapped. Sun might once have been a rotten princess, but nobody messes with Mom!

Warning: This title contains a kick-butt mother-daughter team, a wicked king, a witty pirate with an unfortunate taste for neon colors, inept resistance fighters, a dreamy prince who gallops earnestly hither and yon, and a kick-butt princess in waiting.

I’m not going to post the summary for Twice a Prince because it contains spoilers for Once a Princess but I highly recommend that you purchase both books together as the first has a cliffhanger ending. I think that like Crown Duel, which was originally published as two books, Crown Duel and Court Duel, it would be better to read the two books together. Speaking of Crown Duel, the Sasharia En Garde duology starts in L.A. but Sasha travels to Sartorias-deles, the world where Crown Duel is set. The familiar characters in Crown Duel do not make an appearance in this one because they’re set in different kingdoms.

The main character, Sasha, is a female who is skilled in the art of swordplay. Spending years on the run, she has learned to protect herself by training on fencing and other fighting techniques. She is not a typical princess-in-waiting at all because she grew up on Earth living a normal life (if you can call always worrying whether someone is after you normal). Plus she’s tall and not dainty in any way. I also like Sasha’s humor and how she tries to make the best out of any situation. That’s Sasha in the cover right there, with her wild, curly, blonde hair and her “Got Books?” shirt. Don’t you just love that shirt? I want to have one just like it. The storytelling can be a bit confusing because aside from starting in L.A. and moving to Sartorias-deles, the point of view also changes from one person to another. If you stick with it though, I assure you that you’re in for quite a ride. I love Sherwood Smith’s worldbuilding and she’s been writing about Sartorias-deles since she was a child. The characters here are not cardboard cutouts, even the actions of the villains are explained. As always, I’m amazed at how well Sherwood writes about attraction and relationships and the implications involved.

Basically, the warning above sums it up well. If you’re a Crown Duel fan and you haven’t read this, you should get to it as soon as you can! I’d love to know what you think. I also recommend this for other fantasy fans out there who are interested in a fun and unusual adventure story. And if you haven’t read Crown Duel and have no idea what I’ve been talking about, click here to read one of my earlier reviews (originally posted in LiveJournal) and my attempt to convince others to read the book.

8 thoughts on “Retro Friday: Sasharia En Garde!”

Wow. That meet-up sounds awesome! And I have not yet read this duology, despite being a big CROWN DUEL fan. So thanks for the push. I did read THE TROUBLE WITH KINGS awhile back and was extremely disappointed with it. I think that’s what’s kept me from moving on. I own the Wren books, too, and keep meaning to get to them…

Charlotte, yay I’m glad that you’ve read these books as well and you liked them! It really is a fun duology and I have to agree with you that Sun is such a cool mom.

Angie, it was an awesome meet-up! One of the highlights of my trip. 🙂 If you’re a fan of Crown Duel, you should check this out as well as A Stranger to Command! I read The Trouble With Kings too and I liked it but maybe I’m just biased and I like all Sherwood’s stuff. Don’t worry, Sasharia En Garde is different because it’s much more fun. The Wren books are nice as well but they’re more middle grade than YA. If you’re interested in more of her stuff, I recommend the Inda series, which is adult fantasy. Have you ever read the Crown Duel scenes from Vidanric’s point of view? I read them before when Sherwood had them in her website but now they’re included in the new e-book. There are also short stories about Mel and Vidanric’s children in the Firebirds anthologies. Whew, sorry for the long comment. I did say she’s one of my favorite authors, right?

Michelle, start with Crown Duel first! 🙂 That’s my favorite Sherwood Smith book. I think it’s her most popular work as well.

Follow Me on Social Media

Mabuhay!

Welcome to Chachic’s Book Nook! I’m a Filipino book blogger currently living in Manila, previously based in Singapore. My blog features all sorts of books that I read from various genres – my favorites are fantasy and romance. Click on About Me to learn more and check out my Favorite Books page for a list of books that I love. Thanks for dropping by!

Chachic /ˈtʃɑːtʃɪk/ is pronounced with hard “ch” sounds. The first syllable is pronounced like the dance cha-cha while the second syllable is like chick (baby chicken).

Check out my Bookstagrams:

Subcribe by Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to Chachic's Book Nook and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 2,100 other followers

Goodreads

I’m Chachic on Litsy

Come join in me on Litsy (username: Chachic) where I post book updates on a daily basis!